George Porter Jr. and Brian Stoltz, funky Meters – photo by Rob Chapman
Brian Stoltz has recorded with Bob Dylan, toured with The Neville Brothers, shared the stage with Jerry Garcia on a number of occasions and that’s only scratching the surface. The guitarist has been a part of various top notch projects and his current band, the funky Meters, is no exception. With Art Neville on the keys, George Porter Jr. on bass, Russell Batiste Jr. on the drums and Stoltz rounding out the group on guitar, the funky Meters lay down a blend of blues-infused funk grooves that can only come from a place like New Orleans.
The funky Meters will be joining their friends—and family—Dumpstaphunk at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY on New Year’s Eve. We spoke with Stoltz about the upcoming gig, his future plans, his past collaborations, his ongoing lawsuit with an old management company and more in this interview.
The funky Meters are going to be playing a show with Dumpstaphunk at the recently reopened Capitol Theater in Port Chester on New Year’s Eve. How did two New Orleans funk bands end up ringing in the New Year in New York?
Well it started out as funky Meters on the bill with Steve Miller, who’s now playing on the 30th. For some reason or another they decided to split it up and Steve Miller took the night on the 30th and funky Meters got the night on New Years Eve. Next thing we know, we heard Dumpstaphunk was added to the bill. We don’t really know how it happened but we know it happened and we’re glad it did. It’s going to be a really special night having Ian and Ivan and all those guys there.
The funky Meters will be playing Jam Cruise in a few weeks as well. Can you talk about your past experience with that event?
I’ve only played it once before. I believe it was in 2009. Oh man, it was a blast. Six days out with a whole lot of friends. Lots of musicians that we don’t normally get to see. It’s a chance for everybody in the community to come together. It was just six days of non-stop fun. Between the shows, the jam room and all the stuff that goes on. It’s a really great thing.
You rejoined the funky Meters in 2011 after a few years of playing solo. How do the differences in you and Ian Neville’s styles affect the band’s sound?
I think Ian’s really locked into, and has mastered, that early Leo Nocentelli style. Ian’s rhythm playing is a lot like the early stuff. They took it back to the 60s, early 70s. It’s just different. He’s really got it when it comes to that early catalogue. When I heard the shows with someone who recorded them, they were really great. He took it back to that old 60s style.
What I bring to the table with the funky Meters is a little bit more of an edge. My rhythm playing is not only based on that earlier style but all these other players I grew up with. Jimmy Nolen from James Brown’s band, early Sly and Hendrix stuff, and even guitar players like John Lennon and George Harrison. I have the tendency to bring all of it to the table. When I joined funky Meters, Art Neville said the band wasn’t just going to be playing old Meters songs. He wasn’t interested in just copying old Meters stuff or having a Meters tribute band. This was a live band. He wanted me to bring to the table whatever it was I had to bring. That included all of my styles. I just have a harder edge. That’s all. It’s different with a harder edge, that’s all I can say. It’s a hard thing to explain because it’s something you just do.
You talk about the funky Meters not being just a Meters tribute band. There are a lot of configurations of the Meters playing now. Does having all these groups—the Original Meters, the Metermen, Leo Nocentelli’s Meters Experience—playing concurrently affect the sound of the funky Meters or not really?
No, that has nothing to do with it. I played a show this Saturday night with George Porter and Zigaboo from The Original Meters. Not that we’re a band that’s looking to tour or anything. But none of these bands affect funky Meters. All of these bands, they all have their own chemistry. You take one person out and the chemistry completely changes. And the Funky Meters, it is what it is. It’s the four of us just making this music. The music is never affected by any of the outside stuff going on. The funky Meters don’t affect those other bands either. I don’t see that. One person coming out and one person coming in continues the whole thing. When funky Meters went on hiatus and PBS [Porter, Batiste, Stoltz] started working, it was really hard for that band to catch up because a lot of people just looked at it as the funky Meters without Art. It appeared to have lacked something. It was a completely separate entity. It didn’t sound anything like the funky Meters. Taking Art Neville out of that mix made it something completely different. Putting Art Neville back into that mix, he’s got such a strong personality; it totally changes it into the funky Meters. Nothing’s really affected but that outside stuff.
Speaking of PBS, you guys have been in a pretty long legal battle with your old management. Can you talk about that?
Trials over. We spent a few weeks in court in June and went back for almost three weeks in September. We’re just waiting now. We have till the middle of January to file briefs and hopefully the judge will rule sometime in February. I’m hoping this is all resolved by February so I can get back to my regular life and start getting the career back. The last three years have been pretty consumed by this thing. When George left the band, we had a management thing with this company and the agreement ran out and Porter had notified the company that he was not going to be re-signing. He was also leaving PBS. It wasn’t really going anywhere. Our management sued us for money that they claimed we owe them. We’ve been in court for three years now. It’s been a nightmare. Hopefully, it’ll be coming to an end soon. In the meantime, it’s been three years of trying to figure out what’s going on, what happened all those years. It’s hard to explain, but I can tell you it’s been a nightmare. There was a fund that was put together. It’s a website called savepbs.org. Money was trying to be raised to help us fight the case. It just died because we weren’t really free to talk about it. At the time, we were advised to stay quiet about it. We didn’t want any outside influence on the case or anything. We were just under advice to not get out in the public and talk about it. Because we weren’t able to answer questions and do interviews about it, people got suspicious about it. Very few people donated to the site. So now, we’re stuck with a huge legal bill and we don’t know how the case is going to turn out but we still have that legal bill. Again, it’s been somewhat of a nightmare.
Some of your music has appeared on the New Orleans based HBO show Treme. Do you think that show has done a lot for New Orleans music in terms of getting it out to a wider audience?
Yeah, I think it has. It definitely has. But the show hasn’t done a really great job of getting all kinds of New Orleans music out there. I’m a little bit concerned because, while one side of it is that it’s great a lot of this music is getting exposed, I hope it doesn’t get the tag of “New Orleans music.” All kinds of music have come out of New Orleans. It’s a little bit of a narrow thread of what they’ve been using as “New Orleans music.”
Are there any New Orleans bands out there that you’d recommend?
Yeah, a group called MyNameIsJohnMichael. The leader of the band is John Michael Rouchell. He’s just a tremendous guitar player, singer and songwriter. You gotta watch out for him.
Can you talk about playing with Jerry Garcia? How’d that come about?
Back in the mid-80s, I was playing with the Neville Brothers. The Dead asked us to come out and do the New Year’s shows with them. We did that run of shows between Christmas and New Years. We did that for several years. We also did some of the Mardi Gras shows with them. That was always phenomenal. The Dead, during their second set, would do their Space thing. They’d go into the drum solo and they’d bring Willie Green up. Then they’d bring the rest of us up who wanted to play with them. It was usually me, Art Neville, Cyril [Neville]. So many guys would go up and do the rest of the second set with them. It was always fun. They were always really nice to us. Jerry was just such an unbelievable guitar player. It was a real honor to stand next to him and pick with him for a little bit. He was such a nice guy.
How’d you go from the Neville Brothers to the funky Meters?
Well there were a few years in between. I left the Neville Brothers in January of 1990. After that, I wandered around a little bit. In ‘91 or ‘92, I spent about a year touring with Dr. John. I think it was some time in ‘93; Leo Nocentelli resigned from the funky Meters and I just got a call. Art Neville wanted me to do it when Leo left. I said, “Yeah sure! I love playing with Art Neville.” It was a smooth transition. It was a weird time too. I had already played with The Nevilles and had played with Dr. John. I kept thinking “Who’s left?” I thought, “Well, there are the Meters,” but I never thought that Leo would leave. But then, one day I got a call that he didn’t want to do it anymore so I got the gig. I started doing it in ’93 and have been doing it ever since. Except for the couple of years I took off. It was a smooth transition.
In a past interview with Jambands.com, you spoke about the negative impact that disco had on live music in the 1970s. Is something similar happening now with the rise of electronic music?
I don’t remember saying that. I’m trying to remember in what context I might have said it. I definitely don’t think that about electronica. It’s a totally different thing. There are so many genres of music now and there’s so much music out there that it’s really hard to put things into genres anymore. It’s all becoming so molten. Electronica is just another genre to add to the mix. Back in disco days—again I’m not sure in what context I said that—but disco came along and actually put people out of work. It either put musicians out of work or it made them have to play it. Electronica is just another genre. I don’t see it putting anybody out of work. It’s not taking the place of anything. It just seemed like disco was taking the place of everything at the time.
In your opinion, what is it about New Orleans that makes the music there so funky?
Oh god! New Orleans is just a really laid back place. It’s completely different from any other American city really. It’s so laid back that people come visit here and they end up moving here. It’s one of the last places in America that really has a European feel. I think that’s what it is. There’s just so much music. There are so many styles of music and so much of that music comes from out on the street. Brass bands, second line bands, so it’s always had that street thing. So in New Orleans, you cant walk two blocks without running into a parade. It’s a street element. That’s what keeps it funky.
Before we wrap up can you talk a bit about Bob Dylan?
Well I’ll tell you one thing, I’ve been listening to his new album pretty much non-stop. I’m listening to it every day. The only thing I don’t like is that they got that song on it about the Titanic and we’re getting ready to get on Jam Cruise! That got me a little freaked out. Other than that, it’s a really really great record. I worked with him on the Oh Mercy album. Since then, a lot of those tracks—some of the outtakes, and stuff—have come out on a whole bunch of records. But yeah, I did the Oh Mercy album with him in ’89. It was just a really great experience. I was honored to be on it and it was just a really wonderful experience.
What else is on the horizon?
You asked me about this lawsuit and now that I’m thinking about it, here’s one thing that’s happened to me because of this lawsuit. Before we got sued—this was end of 2009—the term was almost up with this management company and I’d been trying to get a new album out since my last studio album in 2005, and Up All Night in 2007. I’d been trying to get a studio album out since then. It just never ever happened. This management company wasn’t behind it. All kinds of excuses came up and it just never happened. In the meantime, I had enough studio recordings for two or three albums. I just started going on my own, trying to figure out what I could do. I had a couple of different companies lined up that were interested in this record. They wanted to put it out. I was talking to Sony Red about distribution. I was talking to another gentleman about forming a label that had distribution. But when I got sued, all these companies backed out. They were afraid of being sued. That was in 2009, it’s almost 2013. I’m sitting here four years later still trying to get a record out. I want people to know I’m working on that. I’m trying to explore my options right now to figure out a way to get the next project out. It probably won’t be out until this lawsuit is completely over but that is on the table. That’s my next move—trying to get a new studio album out. Hopefully it’ll be sometime in 2013. I can’t even start to tell you all the ways this lawsuit has screwed me up. It pretty much put the breaks on my career. My other two records, East of Rampart Street and God, Guns & Money, I put them out on my own label. I got up every day and I worked those records as hard as I could. Got radio play, worked them every day, called radio programmers, did what I could. It was pretty much a fulltime job every day to do that alone. I’m not sure I have that kind of energy anymore. I’m just trying to explore all the options to actually get something out. We’ll see what happens.
